Everyone involved for a while in the English language teaching profession has
witnessed dramatic changes in the past thirty years. Different methods and approaches
have been developed to adapt to learning theories and second language acquisition
theories. Today, and even though there still are many unanswered questions, researchers
seem to have come up with a systematic body of information in the field.

Teaching is understood as the facilitation of learning or enabling the student
to learn. Teaching involves setting the conditions for learning by understanding
how a learner learns. This understanding will determine the teaching style, the
approach to be used, the method and the classroom techniques, procedures and activities.
The theory of teaching will determine also how to create motivation for effective
learning, how the content area, (language in this case) needs to be structured
and sequenced and how to facilitate language acquisition.

Since the 1970s psychologists and linguists have placed emphasis on interpersonal
relationships, the nature of communication and the interactive process of language.
As a result, the language teaching profession has responded with methods that
emphasize communicative competence, and that stress group work, interaction and
cooperative learning. Teachers find themselves trying to move away from the teaching
of rules, patterns and definitions "about the language" (linguistic
competence) towards teaching students how to communicate genuinely, spontaneously
and meaningfully in the second or foreign language (communicative competence).

In the past two decades the interest in teaching English as a Foreign Language
(EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) has been placed in Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT). This focus has centered on teaching speaking and listening
skills in real life situations, on writing for specific communicative purposes,
and on "authentic" reading texts.

David Nunan (1991) cites five characteristics of CLT:

The provision of authentic texts for the learning situation. An emphasis on
learning to communicate through interaction with others in the target language.
The use of metacognition during the learning process. Learners focus not only
on language but also on the learning process itself.

The use of the learners own personal experiences to enhance classroom learning.

A link of classroom language learning with language usage outside the classroom
in real life contexts. Some concepts that are related to CLT are the following:

Learner-centered teaching: means to give students a measure of decision-making
responsibility regarding the contents in the curricula design and the activities
in which they are going to be engaged.

Cooperative learning: as opposed to competitive learning. This allows students
to work together in groups helping one another to achieve the desired goals.

Interactive learning: meaning is the product of negotiation between speakers
and depends on the cooperation of the participants involved.

The challenge for the EFL teacher has been how to provide students with real,
authentic opportunities to interact in the target language. Technology has certainly
played an important role in its effort to bring more authentic materials to the
classrooms. Tapes and video-lessons have provided a chance to listen to and watch
native speakers in action. Some educational computer software companies have developed
interactive models, which in general are limited in the kind of responses they
allow from the student. None of these technological innovations has had the impact
nor the potential for opportunities for interaction as does the Internet, whether
synchronous or asynchronous. Internet based technology provides an invaluable
tool for second and foreign language teachers to put the theories and concepts
of CLT into practice. Several international networks of schools provide:

a safe and structured environment for students to communicate

a real audience for writing and reading for a purpose

a culturally diverse community

Some of the implications of using Internet based collaboration for second and
foreign English language teachers are:

Teachers are able to face students with real English speaking audiences.

Teachers are able to involve students in writing and reading with a purpose.

Teachers get students engaged in meaningful learning activities.

Teachers provide students with opportunities to communicate and interact in
the target language in real communicational activities.

Teachers have a tool to create intrinsically interactive, motivating activities.
In this guide we will explore some of the possibilities that Internet collaboration
offers for the fields of ESL and EFL